A roadshow of Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) candidate Raja Muzaffar Bhat was attacked with stones in north Kashmir’s Bandipora district on Sunday afternoon.
The incident took place around 1.30pm, immediately after Bhat, 35, wrapped up a party workers’ convention at Bandipora, 40 km off
Srinagar.

“After the convention, our workers insisted on a roadshow. We were on several vehicles when a few stones were tossed at us,” Bhat, who is taking on National Conference stalwart and Union minister for new and renewable energy Farooq Abdullah from Srinagar-Budgam constituency, said.

Bandipora superintendent of police Muhammad Shafi Mir declined to comment on the incident.

The attack came just a day after Bhat held a door-to-door campaign in central Kashmir’s Budgam district.

Bhat said no AAP worker received any serious injuries in the attack. He blamed opponents from mainstream political parties for the mischief. Bhat said he did not suspect the hand of separatists or their supporters in the attack.

The AAP leader and workers went to the district police lines. An FIR has been lodged in connection with the incident.

This is first poll-related violence in Jammu and Kashmir, where elections are scheduled in five phases beginning April 10.